Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Jeremy has arrived.

My friend Jeremy arrived a couple weeks ago, and will be here for 6 months to help finish the project. We've been quite busy turning the space into a semi-habitable facility, so that we can cook our meals, wash hands, take naps, and store all of our things on site. Here's Jeremy at the stove, cooking up lunch:

We've gotten some quality organization done lately. There is no longer little chunks of wood and insulation scattered everywhere on the site. Things are in piles, organized, and easy to access.

Even the tools got organized...

And the rope....

And the fasteners...

Below is a photo attempting to visually describe the new water-catchment system off the shed. It's tough to see, but there is some angled flashing acting as a gutter along the edge of the roof that will direct rain down into the plastic trash can. We can then use this stored water for the nearby garden.

This is shot from the perspective of a tomato plant, looking out over: other tomatoes, sweet peppers, sweet potatoes, watermelon, cucumbers, lima beans, spinach, basil, lemon balm, parsley, and zuchinni plants. Some of these things are still seeds underground (ideas of plants), and some are actual transplants that we bought from the farmer's market.

Here's a seemingly emotional shot of Jeremy and his dog, Tunk. It's been great to have Tunk around, and he seems to enjoy watching the action, and sometimes taking part in it. He's a really sweet, playful pitbull. Strangers take him to be a guard dog, which I don't mind.

One of the greatest accomplishments has been finally removing the forms from the exterior of the concrete foundation wall. After form removal, we dealt with the drainage design around the perimeter of the house. Here Jeremy spreads gravel underneath the cantilevered kitchen floor.

We just started to think about a backyard cob garden wall, which will serve three functions: 1. please the eye, 2. separate yard space from garden space, 3. catch water runoff from the back of the lot, and direct it away from and past the house.

We dug down a little over a foot, dumped in some drain gravel, laid the perforated pipe, and then filled in with more gravel on top.

Before the day was over, we were able to start using some of the urbanite chunks (that I had collected long ago from a demolition project down the street) to begin the foundation for the garden wall. Below you can see where the entrance gate will be.